LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - A sense of calm returned to
global markets on Thursday, as traders took a break from
worrying about a global trade war and focused instead on the
European Central Bank's plans to end its 2.5 trillion euro
stimulus program.

European U.S. and Asian share markets all edged up -
the first two for a fourth day - after U.S. President Donald
Trump suggested he may spare some key trade partners in his push
to introduce protectionist tariffs.

The euro lingered in the red though, as a
bigger-than-expected drop in German industrial orders and then a
subdued ECB inflation forecast added to the weekend's
inconclusive Italian election, reinforcing caution.

The central bank did however drop an explicit promise on its
bond buying, which has been running for three years, and there
was some pointed criticism from ECB chief Mario Draghi for
Trump's plans for more trade tariffs.

"If you put tariffs against (those) who are your allies, one
wonders who the enemies are," he said.

Wall Street opened higher just after Draghi spoke and
the dollar was up marginally too. Trump is expected to
sign a document to establish steel and aluminum tariffs by 3:30
p.m. eastern U.S. time, a source told Reuters.

"This is just the beginning from a U.S. sector perspective
as far as protectionism goes," said Michael Luckman, a partner a
law firm Gowling WLG.

"Import tariffs could be applied to almost anything that a
government believes will harm domestic producers, so this is
likely to be the tip of the iceberg."

Highlighting the strength of the global economy, Chinese
data showed both exports and imports rose more than 20 percent
in the first two months of this year from a year earlier.

In the currency market, the dollar stabilized against other
major currencies after its hit from fears about the tariff plan,
while the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar recovered from
steep losses.

The euro traded down at $1.2377, having risen to
$1.2447 on Wednesday, its highest since Feb. 16. The currency
has been rising since it hit a seven-week low of $1.2154 when
Trump unveiled his tariff plan last week.

Bond markets were also steady with 10-year U.S. Treasury
yields stuck at 2.87 percent and Germany's benchmark barely
budged at 0.67 percent having hit a five-week low of
0.60 percent on Monday.

"The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to
remain at their present levels for an extended period of time,
and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases," it said
in it post-meeting statement.

Wall Street started with a 0.2-0.3 percent rise for the S&P
500 and Dow Jones which had both seen a choppy day
on Wednesday.

They had swung higher when White House spokeswoman Sarah
Sanders said the impending hefty U.S. tariffs on steel and
aluminum imports may exclude Canada, Mexico and some other
countries.

That soothed worries about the prospect of more aggressive
trade measures after the departure of Trump's top economic
adviser Gary Cohn.

Masahiro Ichikawa at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management said
the issue would hang over markets however. "Investors need to
see exactly what steps Trump will take and what retaliatory
actions other countries will take in coming days."

EMERGING CONCERNS

Draghi wasn't the only one in Europe to express concerns
about Trump's plans. European Financial Affairs Commissioner
Pierre Moscovici said Europe was preparing immediate
counter-measures in case of a trade skirmish.

"If Donald Trump puts in place the measures this evening, we
have a whole arsenal at our disposal with which to respond,"
Moscovici told BFM TV on Thursday.

The dollar traded at 106.17 yen, little changed in
Europe, keeping some distance from its 16-month low of 105.24
touched on Friday.

There was plenty to navigate in emerging markets, too.
Turkish assets largely shrugged off Moody's cutting its credit
rating deeper into junk-rated territory.

Poland's zloty touched a three-month low against the euro
a day after its central bank governor said its first
rate increase might come a year later than previously expected.

The Mexican peso hovered cautiously at 18.71 per dollar
, bouncing back from Wednesday's low of 18.90 while the
Canadian dollar changed hands at C$1.2890 off an
eight-month low of C$1.3002 hit this week.

Bitcoin steadied after slumping more than 7 percent on
Wednesday after U.S. and Japanese regulators tried to tighten
their grip on crypto-currencies.

Japan's financial regulator punished seven crypto-currency
exchanges, suspending business at two of them, to bolster
consumer protection after the $530 million theft of digital
money from Tokyo-based Coincheck.

In commodities, oil prices inched back after falling more
than 2 percent the previous day on record U.S. crude production
and rising inventories.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were
just under $61 a barrel, down 0.3 percent, while benchmark Brent
was 0.5 percent lower at $64 a barrel.